Happy Independence Day – A time to reflect, think and act

This morning my daughter Sophia and I attended the “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July” program at the Stephen and Harriet Myers residence on Livingston Avenue in Albany. The program was a reflection of the 1852 speech of Frederick Douglas in Rochester, N.Y. where he spoke at length about the issue that consumed America at that time – slavery. From the voices of many adult voice actors this morning, we heard first-hand the challenges many individuals of color faced at that time which made us reflect back on the injustices that many suffered over time. Fortunately, much of what was common then is a distant memory today. However, there are continued lasting impacts that we still quarrel with today.

Today, we still witness inequality and injustice in many circles, two of which I will briefly mention. Most recently the women’s inequality was once again not resolved as the NYS Legislature and Executive did not come to an agreement in the legal sense during this past legislative session.

Whereas there are many fingers to point, that is not my reason for this message but it is imperative that we address the inequities that woman do face in the workplace among other items once and for all. Additionally, this past week the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) held a report card event to report on where education is today. In as much as there has been some progress made particularly in UPK and a recovery of education funding, it is clear that many upstate and urban districts are still sorely underfunded as compared to the downstate suburban districts and the gap continues to grow. As this gap grows, so does the achievement gap and what is most frustrating is that this gap, which is several generations old, continues to widen, not narrow. The inequity of funding to the urban districts, which are also minority areas as well, is a continued concern of mine and that of my colleagues here in the Capital Region and is something that we will continue to focus on until equity is achieved.

That being said, we are fortunate to live in a country where freedom does ring and we as a society do have the ability to impact societal issues such as those that I mention. We do have the right to free speech and the ability to advocate our issues or concerns without fear of retribution. We may not achieve everything we desire but we have that right to pursue happiness and equality. Additionally, we all have a responsibility to do what is right. More and more I fear that we have lost what I call “personal responsibility” for our actions. More often than not when there is failure, we as a society continue to look or point at others before doing an internal review of who we are and what we could have done to make our world a better place.

At the end of the presentation this morning, President Walston of the Underground Railroad asked our youth to speak about what they learned at today’s event. A young man of eight years old summed it up pretty well – “I learned that inside is what counts, not the outside. It is not the color of my skin, the clothes or hats I wear but in fact who I am that can make the world a better place.” Pretty impressive for an eight year old if you ask me and a reminder to all that in as much as we live in the best country in the world, there is still much good we can do in the world!